Lost Cause

by S A Magnusson

  It was possible my belief I had freed myself was nothing more than another dream. Could it be that this was all part of a spell, some magic on me, or was this real? I no longer knew. But I focused on that power, filling myself with it. In the distance, a small house caught my attention. The sense of Kate surged strongly in the back of my mind.

  That was where we were going.

  18

  I reached the small house, and it was nestled between a pair of towering trees standing like sentries looming over me, guardians determined to hold me back from reaching the house itself. The air smelled of decay and rot, and throughout everything came an overwhelming sense of magic, that tingling sense which left my skin with a chill. I had no idea how I’d gotten here from the mountain, but I wondered if the spell that had changed me had been building during the crossing. It was possible us climbing the mountain had never happened, though I no longer knew. I wasn’t sure if leaving John Adams behind was right, but at the same time, I didn’t know how to help him.

  I paused at the door. There were a series of symbols all around it. I had seen them before, though where? I started forward but couldn’t get through. It was almost as if the power of the trees prevented me from going any further. I leaned forward, trying to break through whatever it was that held me, but there was nothing I could do. Another step, and again I tried to push past it, and as before, I felt resistance.

  I stared at the symbols all around the door and realized why I recognized them. They were the same symbols which had been used in the prison that held John Adams. With such symbols, could I trigger them in any way? Pushing power from within, it flowed more easily than it had in a long time. I sent power through each of the symbols, and the trees shimmered. It was strange. I continued to focus on the symbols, sending more and more power out of me, triggering them.

  The triggering changed something, leaving the symbols glowing with a soft white light. I pushed more power into them, and the trees disappeared. The small home disappeared.

  Now I was standing on a grassy meadow, similar to the Seelie plain. I searched for something else I would have to trigger and found it on a rock nestled into the ground. It was situated near John Adams. I focused on that rock, pushing power into that symbol and triggering it.

  After a moment, the symbol glowed, and I pushed more power into it, worried I was damaging something, but it glowed with increasing power and then stopped. The symbol had shifted, changing to something else. I tried pushing power into this new symbol, but nothing happened. It was almost as if when I had triggered the last one, I had changed something within, enough that I could not reach it any longer.

  All of a sudden, John Adams took a deep breath and sat up. “What happened?”

  “I think we had a spell placed on us,” I said.

  “What sort of spell?”

  “I’m not really clear,” I said. I looked around. “This was an empty room at first, and then it became a forest, and now it’s this grassy plain.”

  John got to his feet, looking around. Power built from him briefly, and it washed away from us. “How is it you came around first?”

  “I could feel the spell inside my mind, and I triggered it.”

  He studied me, watching me with a strange appraising expression, and I could tell he was trying to decide whether or not I was telling him the truth. Seeing as how I had no other way of explaining what had happened, and the explanation I’d offered him sounded crazy, I doubted I would have believed it, if the situation were reversed.

  “We should’ve died,” he said.

  “Because of the spell?”

  “It’s a mind trap. I should have suspected when we crossed the bridge. I should’ve known when we reached the troll, but…”

  “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “We were talking about the various realms…”

  “I seem to remember I only know about the fae and demon realms.”

  “Well, there is a realm of creatures that can tap into the mind. They’re called Ethear. It’s an old word from this side of the Veil. They have a way of trapping their prey within their mind, and then they feed off of their magical energy.”

  “That was the troll.”

  He nodded. “It must’ve been caught by the mind trap, and was feeding on the stream, thinking it was drawing magical energy for itself.”

  “But instead it was drawing for these creatures.”

  “That is my fear.”

  “If they are feeding on the ley lines, then they are incredibly powerful.”

  “It’s possible, but I’ve never heard of these creatures feeding on ley lines before. That might have been all part of the mind trap.” John Adams looked around. “All of this might have been part of the mind trap. In that regard, we could be still within it.”

  “Would we be aware if we were still within it?

  “I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so, but it’s possible they want us to know, in order to feed on us more strongly.”

  The idea of a creature feeding on my magical energy left me with chills, and yet I had to believe if it was trying to feed on me that it would not get as well-nourished as if it were feeding on something else.

  “I still have the sense of Kate in the back of my head.” It was time for me to be more honest with John Adams, if only because I thought I needed his help with whatever was taking place. I had no idea how we were going to escape without working together, and as much as I didn’t care for this, I also didn’t care for the idea that a creature was feeding on me and my magical energy.

  “I suspected you had a way of tracking her.”

  “It’s more of a feeling than anything else. I am aware of her, but it’s not always there, and it was gone for a long time.”

  “When we were trying to use you to call to her?”

  “There was no way I would’ve been able to reach her,” I said.

  John Adams shook his head. “Then we were fools.”

  “I think you were fools for a lot of reasons—not least because you thought to use me to get Kate. I would never reveal her to someone who would harm her.”

  John continued to watch me, and there was a hint of amusement on his face, though I couldn’t tell if he was amused that they had tried to use me to get to Kate, or for a different reason. Either way, the unpleasant way he stared at me and leered left me unsettled once again.

  “You keep looking at me like that, I’m going to find this Ethear and I’m going to let it feed on you.”

  “I don’t know if we would even see it,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “As far as I know, an Ethear has never been seen, at least not by those on our side of the Veil.”

  If this creature were as powerful as he was describing, could it be the reason I’d lost touch with Kate? It was possible this creature had trapped her in her own mind. She might be powerful, but would she be powerful enough to withstand such an attack? Worse, she would have more magic than the creature would be able to draw upon, and it would likely continue to feed, treating her like a parasite treated a host, drawing off her magical energy indefinitely. “What happens when these Ethear feed?”

  “Dr. Stone, all of this is theoretical. I haven’t any experience with them, and all I know is that if this is an Ethear, it would feed on us until our magical energy was gone.”

  “And then what?”

  “When the magical energy is gone, then there’s nothing left for it to feed on. There’s no reason for it to continue to feed.”

  “What happens to the person?”

  “They die,” he said.

  I shuddered. I had been attacked by this creature, and had I not been able to trigger, I wouldn’t have been freed from it. I was lucky I had been able to do so. I frowned. “How do I know I’m still not under its influence?”

  John Adams grinned at me. “Now you’re starting to think like me.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s a compliment.”

  John looked aw
ay, and his gaze swept all around us before settling back on me. “If we were still under the influence of the Ethear, we wouldn’t be able to have this conversation, and I’m certain you and I are having an actual conversation.”

  “I seem to remember a conversation building while we were crossing the realm, heading toward the mountain.”

  “And what else do you remember?”

  “The sense of magic building.” It hit me, then. That was the Ethear spell. It had been approaching us for some time, and it could even have been building upon us when we thought it was the Seelie army approaching, so we could have been running from it for a while. If that were the case, then how would we outrun it now?

  I shook my head. “John, can you detect Barden?”

  He pushed on a spell, sending it out from him. As he did, the power exploded outward, striking the coin. With it, I could feel the nature of the power flowing outward, almost as if he were drawing more power than he had before. Then again, it was possible the power he’d been using before had been restricted by the Ethear. “He’s close,” John Adams said.

  “I think Kate is close too.”

  “Dr. Stone, if this is an Ethear, and if it’s trying to feed on them, they might be under its influence and there might not be anything we can do.”

  “I have to try.”

  “I understand. I’m just warning you.”

  I took a deep breath, looking around. I focused on the sense of Kate, and let it guide me. If I could use that sense of her, if she could guide me forward, and if her magic would pull me, then we could find this Ethear. If we couldn’t destroy it, we could at least try to free our friends.

  I pointed, and John Adams nodded. “The same direction,” he said.

  “Is that a good sign or not?”

  “I have no idea.”

  I turned my attention to him. “Why are you helping me at this point?”

  “Because I don’t have any way of returning to our side of the Veil.”

  “That’s not the only reason. You know this side well enough that you should be able to cross back over.”

  “I don’t intend to cross back over until this is completed.”

  “I’m not going to let you harm my friend.”

  “Whoever said I intended to harm her?”

  “The fact you want to keep going makes me wonder if you do.”

  “I was never interested in harming her,” John Adams said.

  I waited, hoping he would explain more, thinking that if he did, and if there was a good reason for him to want to reach Kate, I might be able to feel more at ease about what we were doing, but he didn’t say anything.

  Taking a deep breath, I started forward, following the sense of Kate. It filled me with a deep and vibrant awareness. With each step, I searched for more symbols. If there was something else here for me to trigger, I needed to find it. The sense of Kate continued to grow in the back of my mind. Every so often, I would glance over to John Adams, and as I did, he would focus on the coin, and he would nod, pointing. Each time he pointed, it was in the direction I thought we needed to go.

  If Barden had reached Kate and had been captured, it suggested whatever we were chasing was powerful enough to incapacitate both of them. And if Barden had brought Veran and Cynthia with him, it meant three incredibly powerful mages had been incapacitated by this creature. Then again, I had fallen victim to this creature myself, and I wondered what power it even took for it to use its ability. Maybe it was able to influence us from a distance. Either way, I was going to find it, and if it was responsible for harming my friend, then I was determined to destroy it. The only problem was that I doubted my connection to the spell coins would be enough. It might be best to simply rescue my friends, and if so, then getting to them was enough.

  “Dr. Stone?”

  “You can call me Jen,” I said.

  “You don’t prefer the honorific?”

  “When it comes to the magical world, I don’t know if I need it.” There were enough people around me who still felt the need to call me doctor, and though I doubted I would ever change Barden, I thought I might be able to change Darvish and I certainly didn’t want John Adams calling me doctor. It was bad enough dealing with it all day at work. While I appreciated the sentiment, I didn’t need the title.

  “We are close, Jen.”

  “I know.”

  We took another few steps, and then both of us stopped at the same time. Looming somewhere in front of us was another magical barrier.

  I glanced over to John Adams, and he nodded at me. He could feel it, too. “What’s on the other side of this?” I asked.

  “Perhaps death.”

  “That’s reassuring,” I said.

  “If we are dealing with an Ethear, the fact that we’re still alive is a wonder.”

  I made my way along the edge of the magical barrier, focusing on it before turning my attention to the ground. There was nothing there I could detect, though I had a sense there was something somewhere. Every so often, I came across something on the ground, and paused, looking down at it. And eventually I found a symbol there.

  I pushed power into it, and as before, when the symbol was tripped, it started glowing. I push more power into until it was triggered completely. The section of the barrier collapsed.

  “Did you see that?”

  “I did,” John Adams said. He hurried along the wall, and he pointed excitedly. “Here.”

  I raced forward, and I found another stone buried in the ground, similar to the one sitting next to John Adams when he was unconscious. I pushed power into it the same way as before, and the stone glowed, taking the power, and then it triggered, exploding with power. When it did, another section of the barrier fell.

  “How many more of these do you think you can accommodate?” he asked.

  “They aren’t particularly difficult,” I said.

  John Adams smiled at me. “You truly are unique, Dr. Stone.”

  “I thought we were over with that.”

  “We might be, but then you go and show off this ability.”

  “What ability is that?”

  “One I wasn’t able to do.”

  “I’m just a hedge mage,” I said.

  “There’s nothing just about you. And that is one thing the council has always overlooked. They always believed the hedge mages were powerless, yet in my line of work, we often relied upon hedge mages precisely because they are overlooked. It’s easy to think they don’t have any power, but there’s often a specific power, like yours. You would be surprised how many hedge mages we’ve employed over the years, and all of them have a unique gift. The challenge is finding that gift and bringing it out.

  “You and Barden might have more in common than you realize.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Barden was trying to convince the council to use hedge mages.”

  “It doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Because of his desire for power?”

  “I’m not so sure Barden Leifan has ever been the kind to desire power. My experience with him suggests it’s rather a desire for knowledge. With knowledge comes a certain kind of power.”

  “He also wants to protect the people who work with him,” I said. “His knowledge—and the connections it grants—allow him to do that.”

  “You respect him.”

  “Barden has taught me everything he can about the magical world.”

  “It shouldn’t have had to be like that,” John said.

  “Oh yeah? You would have preferred I learn from the organization?”

  “There is value in having a more open communication about the magical world, Dr. Stone.”

  “Maybe, but you have to admit there’s also value in hiding it. Those who don’t have power would chase it if they knew what existed.”

  “Possibly, but even if they chased it, what do you think they might gain? How many people might be hedge mages we haven’t been able to determine? If we were more open about it, we mi
ght find out.”

  “Why are you so interested in revealing it? What do you think you can gain by revealing the magical world to those who are the part of it?”

  “Too many are hurt because of the secrecy,” he said.

  “I suspect more would be hurt if there wasn’t secrecy.”

  “I doubt that is true,” John Adams said.

  I watched him, a bolt of understanding coming to me. I’d seen patients like this before. “Who did you lose?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said.

  “It does. Who did you lose?”

  “My daughter.”

  I looked at him with a different light. Could that explain why he had pursued the power as he did? He might have gone about it the wrong way, but it certainly would explain the anger he had.

  “The same daughter you wanted me to find?”

  He smiled sadly. “No, that one still lives. She’s helped me over the years, though I’ve tried to keep her separated from my work.”

  “What happened to the one you lost?”

  “She got caught in between a magical conflict. Unfortunately, I didn’t know enough at the time to save her.”

  “What sort of magical conflict?”

  “One that involved this side of the Veil,” he said.

  “That’s why you have been acting the way you do? You want to try to close off the Veil?”

  “I don’t want to close it off, but I do want to make sure there is a more even balance of power. There are things on this side of the Veil we can’t even imagine.”

  I grunted. “Yeah. I think I’ve seen that.”

  “And yet, if we were able to anticipate the possibilities of what we might face, our people might be better able to withstand anything which exists over here. It’s not as if we want to spend time here—as I’ve told you, it is difficult for people to spend any time on this side of the Veil without suffering the consequences, but there is value in understanding. Too many people believe crossing the Veil is impossible, and yet, my people have known and proven otherwise for a long time.”